July 26, 2008

White vampire yes, Indian werewolf no

More thoughts on the Twilight book and movie, which feature a white vampire and an Indian werewolf vying for a maiden's love.

The witching hour looms for vampire's teen fansThe lucky book is Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer, (Little, Brown, $22.99, ages 12-up) the fourth volume in a paranormal romance series about ordinary teenager Isabella Swan and her extraordinary admirers--the impossibly gorgeous Edward Cullen, who is a vampire, and the ruggedly handsome Jacob Black, who is a werewolf.

Across the country, booksellers are staging proms, vampire "balls," trivia contests, scavenger hunts and at one store in Vermont, an Edward Cullen look-alike contest. (That ought to get teenage girls into a bookstore on a Friday night.) One store in California is parking the bloodmobile out front, hoping books about a family of throat-biters will inspire fans to roll up their sleeves. At the King's English Bookshop in Salt Lake City, Utah, the final results of an ongoing poll about which suitor Bella should pair off with will be announced at the stroke of midnight. Readers loyal to Jacob might want to start stuffing the ballot box by voting here: http://kingsenglish.booksense.com/NASApp/store/IndexJsp. Edward's currently ahead with 81 percent of the vote.

Despite its popular acclaim--a film based on the first book, Twilight, is scheduled to open on Dec. 12--critical reception has been mixed. Bella's enthrallment with Edward, and her near-constant need of being rescued, make some women (including me) cringe. The second book, New Moon, "may leave the reader wishing for . . . a more empowered and self-assured heroine," wrote Angelica Delgado in the journal, VOYA.Comment: So the Disneyfied heroine (pretty, dependent, hungry for a man) will choose the handsome white guy over the not-so-handsome person of color, who happens to be a Quileute Indian. Nice message to send to the kids, Stephenie.

This is roughly the same story we've seen in every Disney movie, fairy tale, and historical romance going back to Pocahontas and John Smith. If the beautiful maiden is bland and submissive enough, she'll get her (white) Prince Charming.

The corollary message to Indians? You're not good enough to get the girl. You're a loser who can't compete. The only way to succeed is to abandon your traditions and act like the white man.

Symbolism reinforces message

Even Edward's and Jacob's symbolism is fitting. Like an angel, Edward the Anglo vampire is pale, immortal, and (if he's like other vampires) able to fly. That he's a bloodsucker is beside the point. (Lucifer wasn't a sweetheart either. Like his Euro-Christian counterparts, he founded a "New World" in Hell where he could rule over the unbelievers.)

Meanwhile, Jacob the Indian werewolf is hairy, snarling, and savage just like a demon. He's literally a beast-man. So we see the duality Meyer has unwittingly set up. The white character is superhuman and the Indian character is subhuman.

25 comments:

Writerfella here -- Except for BLACULA (1972) w/William Marshall and VAMPIRE IN BROOKLYN (1995) w/Eddie Murphy, vampires in films and TV almost exclusively are Caucasian and EuroMen. writerfella would have thought that to be discriminatory until he realized that the phrase 'white bloodsuckers' makes for one hell of a lot of logical sense...All BestRuss Bates'writerfella'

Hey Rob--have you read any of the series yet? (I suspect it's not up your alley, but don't really know what you dig for fiction.) I definitely get what you're saying, and from the overall general, you're not wrong. You're also probably seeing what a lot of the readers are going to see. But what's missing from this is the depth that the Quileute characters have. Jacob is easily the most likeable character of the bunch (at least in the first two books--I haven't read beyond that). He's much more likeable than Bella, in my opinion, and I think he could definitely do better than her as far as girls go. (Which leads to the dilemma of why he's interested in her anyway, but that's a different digression.)

The man v. monster metaphor comes up a lot in the vampiric family as well. The vampires are certainly beautiful, but most of them are monstrous, demonic figures in Meyer's chronicle. Again, at least in the first two books.

On Meyer's web site, she actually talks about the Quileute legends she used to tie her Western mythology into actual traditions from the area where she set the stories. While that doesn't necessarily make her less guilty of what you're saying here, that's certainly one of the elements of the book that enchanted me.

Writerfella here -- In THE OMEGA MAN, the 'monsters' were not so much vampires as sufferers from rampant auto-immune conditions caused by a virus. Even in 2007's I AM LEGEND (consult your Richard Matheson), the 'zombies' were created by a virus. Yes, Aaliyah did portray a vampire in 2002's QUEEN OF THE DAMNED, but both that film and Aaliyah um, er, uh, died...All BestRuss Bates'writerfella'

Vampires may be evil, but they're also larger than life. Among supernatural menaces, they're the elite. Count Dracula is always more intelligent and sophisticated than Frankenstein's monster, the Wolfman, or the Mummy.

How many times have dead Indians come back as skeletons, poltergeists, zombies, or demons? A lot. And how many times have they come back as angels, messiahs, superheroes, or vampires? Almost never. (If it isn't clear, the latter group's common feature is that they're superhuman rather than subhuman.)

That was my point. Even among villains, Caucasians get to be beautiful vampires while minorities are ugly monsters. (Blade is the exception that proves the rule.) I bet few authors would be flexible enough to think of Indians as vampires. It's like thinking of Indians as presidents, billionaires, or Nobel Prize winners--i.e., unthinkable to most people.

P.S. At the moment, I'm digging Harry Turtledove's "Worldwar" series (humans vs. Lizards in WW II). The first book was a 9.0 and the second was an 8.5, which is significantly better than any other series I've read recently.

Writerfella here -- How is it that Rob NEVER (or seemingly so) has heard of Navajo 'skinwalkers'? For someone who claims to be so 'conversant' of Native culture, how did he miss that one? Oh, Rob, look behind you! That's NOT a bunny rabbit!All BestRuss Bates'writerfella'

Russ, your comment reveals your ignorance, not mine. I've mentioned "skinwalkers" 11 times in Newspaper Rock so far. I've also written reviews of the SKINWALKER comic-book series and the Hillerman-based movie Skinwalkers.

FYI, a skinwalker is akin to a werewolf, not a vampire. So other than trashing me, what's your point? My point remains the same: that Indians get to be werewolves (or skinwalkers) but not vampires.

I just finished the first book, and am 1/4 of the way into the 2nd one. In regards to Alanajoli's comment: "Jacob is easily the most likeable character of the bunch (at least in the first two books--I haven't read beyond that)."

This is true. So far, Jacob has not wolfed out at all. He's not savage and wolfy in the least as regular Jacob, anyway. I'll have to see what is different once werewolves appear in the books.

Also to be noted:

- References to Indian legends of "cold ones" imply that there have been Indian vampires also.

Rob. Slow down for a minute and stop being such a jerk. If you would take a moment to read the series, you would see that Stephenie Meyer is definitely NOT trying to descriminate against Native Americans. In the book, Jacob is described a fun-loving and sweet, Bella's personal sun. The reason why the majority of people want Bella to be with Edward is because they were made for each other. Edward is one of the characters first introduced in the book. Most of the fans want Jacob to have his own happy ending as well as Bella, but that does NOT mean that he had to have it with her. As it states in the fourth book, Jacob gets Renesmee. And not, that does NOT make him a pedophile. It says, multiple times, that Jacob has no sexually feelings for Renesmee, and is in no way impatient for her to grow up. So, please, if you're not going to read the books, don't publicly diss them, do it in the privacy of your mother's basement, where I'm sure you live quite happily.

People want Bella to end up with Edward because she's IN LOVE with him. She's always loved him.

She's not in love with Jacob, but she does love him, and is her dear friend. She's always considered him to be a friend, and nothing more.

And Jacob isn't ugly... in fact, he's described as very handsome and warm. And quite smart.

And Rob, read the freaking series, THEN comment. Because you're commenting based on your assumptions and on what other people have said. If you read them, you would see first-hand what Meyer says about Jacob.

Plus, the werewolves in the series are shown as the "good guys," the protectors, and vampires are seen as mostly evil.

The first 3 books are great. Jacob is an awsome character and I just think the way Stephenie Meyer used Jacob in her fourth book was pathetic. The happy ending she made up for Jacob was just a lame excuse to recompensate him for the way Bella used him in new moon and eclipse. Still to me that was not enough. Bella's character is overly selfish and cruel and sometimes I love to think that Bella got killed. (by a polar bear like stephenie meyer mentioned in her website about something somebody said) the fourth book could of gone different ways. sometimes i think she just wrote it the way she did just to be done with it. or maybe to open peoples minds that its just a book and she wouldn't take the last one as seriously as she did with the first three. Well I'm just going to pretend the last book was never released. There I feel much better.

"What other people have said" includes dozens and dozens of Twilight readers. What makes you think your understanding of the book is greater than theirs?

Why should I read the books when I've refuted your complaints without reading them? Give me a complaint that I haven't already disposed of and I'll consider it. Until then, no.

In short, feel free to address the merits of my "freaking" comments. If they're false, prove it with fact and evidence and logical reasoning. But don't waste time worrying about where my criticisms came from when you can't address the criticisms themselves.

If Stephanie Meyer really did write the book with a bias toward Indians by playing on the subhuman vs. superhuman idea - why is the Pack always depicted as protectors? Why do they play such a key role in the protection of Bella and forks? Why do they keep their abilities and continue to protect Forks and La Push from Laurent and Victoria after the vampires bail? And I think most importantly - why does the pack exhibit the values many of us look for in the ideal family? They love each other; they protect each other, and work to keep both their biological families, and their larger community family safe.

Meanwhile, the Cullens are quite happy to play baseball with human-eating vampires and then let them walk away - even after they ate members of the Forks-area community. Rosalie hated Edward for saving Bella. Edward risks killing his entire family by exposing themselves to a human, and then wants to abort his child against Bella's wishes (this is a matter on consent - not a pro-life comment). Way back in the first book he even wanted to take Bella away if it meant Charlie would die. Clearly not caring that Bella would be devastated with the loss of her father. Where is the superhuman in that? Sure the vampires protect Bella ... but just Bella.

So again, if the werewolves are so subhuman why do they give their loyalty and protection to the community while the superhuman vampires just give theirs to Bella?

Now - I really don't expect you to agree with any of this because it is the exact opposite of your theories, but what I can do is simply point out that without reading the books you can't understand the relationship the reader has with the characters and the families. If you could understand that relationship you would realize that the werewolves are never less than the vampires. Applied to your broader thesis - the Quileute Tribe is equal.

And yes - before you (or anyone else asks) Bella does stay with Edward because he is her "true love". Sucks to be her!

Re "On Meyer's web site, she actually talks about the Quileute legends she used": I addressed this point in Twilight vs. Quileute Legends. Basically, Meyer falsified the bits of Quileute lore she found. She turned a real Native culture and religion into a fairy tale and stereotyped the Quileutes as fantasy figures. Does that sound like something a responsible author should do?